3:30am near Kamakura and once again I am back in Japan! Hooray!
Mildly jet lagged after 23hrs in transit - the last 153 minutes in the direct "limited express" Sobu /Yokosuta line really taxed the reserves but for 2,200 Y who can gripe too much. That's about $24CA, 130lbs of drag-on luggage no extra charge.
As usual Narita was helpful and pleasant - heck even Pearson (Toronto) worked well this time and I made the connection in time. We'll see how they handle the return: last year they stranded me on a snowy Friday night after 2 flights out were scrubbed - RobertQ shuttle got me home.
So what happened to this blog last year? I got lazy and had too much fun.
This year I hope to have more fun, but also drop a few notes here.
First thing I learned this trip.. When home from previous trip, do not put your Japanese cell phone "someplace safe where I won't mislay it" That meant I had to use the extra one, its sim & phone number were stale-dated, and that meant a new sim, new charges and slightly less smooth going before getting on the JR train. So 3,000Y top up for the phone can be paid on the Canadian credit card - which often does not work in Japan, but the new sim/phone number/ registration is another odd Y3,100 and they want cash, and an hour to register the new number on the network.. If I had my regular jp phone it would have been 5 minutes - the numbers expire after 420 days, so no problem with yearly trips. Oh and all the maps I jpegged and put in the phone , and the 2GB micro sd with them and last years pix are also safely stored somewhere back in Canada..
No matter, I have a working jp cell phone and can call for help if I do something stupid and get into trouble.
My friend had renovated her apartment last year.. It is all spiffy and very modern looking. The hot bath was wonderful, but jet-lag is jet-lag and so here I am waiting for the ibuprophen to kick in, sitting on a cushion in front of her mini-space heater in the wee hours of the morning - or early afternoon, Ontario time.
Fortunately I found the carton of Sochu on the shelf besides the fridge.
Here is an enigmatic picture from last year. It is good to be back!
maybe next time - the naive charm of Japanese in-flight movies
No comments:
Post a Comment